Raising the mast

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Apr 20, 2011
2
O Day 25 Harrison Township
Can anyone give me the dimensions of the metal triangular plate that attaches to the sidestay for the mast raising system? I have an O Day 25. I need to fabricate. Thank you.
 
Jun 3, 2004
89
Oday 26 Lake Keowee,SC
Oday 23.25.26 mast raising syatem

look at any "Backstay Triangle Plate" on a boat about the same sizeand it will be close enough in size. Seen the attached JPG's from an old artical I found on the mast raising syatem and 3 redraws of the pictures in the artical. I hope this helps. ps... I will post these on the Oday 25 information section as a PDF for everyone's usage.
 

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Apr 20, 2011
2
O Day 25 Harrison Township
Re: Oday 23.25.26 mast raising syatem

kdssail,
Thank you very much for the information. I think this will help, I'm trying to raise the mast with my wife and myself.
Steve
 
Jan 24, 2005
4,881
Oday 222 Dighton, Ma.
kdssail,
Thank you very much for the information. I think this will help, I'm trying to raise the mast with my wife and myself.
Steve
Steve,
It isn't so much the size of the plates, but the placement on the stays in relation to the pivot point of the mast. The triangular plate that I took off my back stay is 3 inches and it's probably the same plate that they used on the side stays of some of the O'Day 25s and 26s. I had my son weld my triangular plate to the end of my Gin Pole. I'm using pivot bridles in place of the triangular plates. One end of my pivot bridle is attached to a small stainless steel shackle in one of the toggles and the other end of the bridle is attached to pad eye on the deck. I added another device last year that fits on my mast with baby stays attached to it from the pivot bridles. This device could work very well on your boat regardless of whether you raise/lower from the bow or the stern. Unfortunately the pictures are on my other PC which is being worked on by a techy. I think that the two small pad eyes for a pair of pivot bridles would be cheaper to install than the two triangular plates which would involve swaged connectors and togglles. The ropes, rings, and snap hooks can be bought at Lowe's for cheap money. I'm just not sure of the configuration of your stays in being able to figure out the placement of the small shackles. You would really have to sort that out yourself if you wanted to make two pivot bridles. Both bridles would need to be made up even. That way, they could be used on either side of the boat. This has a lot to do with the placement of the pad eyes. The shackles can only go in one place, but the pad eyes can be placed on the deck and adjusted for the bridles before they are permanently bolted in place. I know that this sounds awfully confusing, but once you have a firm understanding of the pivot bridles and how they work, it all becomes quite clear. I have a lot of pictures that I can send you if you want to email me at sailtrinkka1986@verizon.net If you want to go for the plates though, don't let me influence you into doing something else.
Joe
 

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Nov 17, 2010
7
Oday 25 Percy Priest
Re: Oday 23.25.26 mast raising syatem

look at any "Backstay Triangle Plate" on a boat about the same sizeand it will be close enough in size. Seen the attached JPG's from an old artical I found on the mast raising syatem and 3 redraws of the pictures in the artical. I hope this helps. ps... I will post these on the Oday 25 information section as a PDF for everyone's usage.
do you have a better (larger) picture of the article on Mast Raising or a site link to one with more resolution?
 
Jan 24, 2005
4,881
Oday 222 Dighton, Ma.
do you have a better (larger) picture of the article on Mast Raising or a site link to one with more resolution?
It's possible that Rudy at D&R Marine could make you up two new lower stays with the triangular plates built into them. Then you could keep the lowers you have on there now for spares. http://www.drmarine.com/
If you plan on using your boom for the Gin Pole, all you need is a 1/4" braid line to go from the end of the boom to each of the plates.
The line is taken off the sheave of each block of your Main sheet to gain enough line to connect the Main sheet to the boom while the mast is laying horizontal over the bow.
 

geehaw

.
May 15, 2010
231
O-day 25 shoal keel Valdez
Plywood for raising mast.

I recently made a system for raising mine. I used a variation of Oday's system and others I have seen here. I used plywood in place of the triangle plates. I did add a third bolt at the top so the cable ran in between them. I also made a 2x8 gin pole in place of the boom as it seemed there was a special fitting for the boom to mast connection. I used the main sheet and the jib halyard. For raising. It was easy. Two problems I had was main sheet was not long enough, but this was a blessing in disguise as I had to use a strap to extend it which didn't allow the mast to stand vertical. I handed the rest of the way which gave me control of the mast as it set in place. Second thing was the gin pole was higher then I could reach so had to make sure i connected the sheet, halyard,straps up before putting the gin pole on the mast.
 

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Oct 20, 2008
142
Oday 222 USA
Re: Plywood for raising mast.

Geehaw:
It appears that you have a pin in both the forward and aft position on the mast step hinge plate. As I understand it, this is not correct. Under sail, there should only be a pin in the aft position.[FONT=&quot]

The mast step hinge plate should not have a second pin in the forward slot position. The forward slot is for an optional temporary pin to keep mast from falling back when you remove forestay when lowering mast.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The mast is designed only for an aft pin placement to allow mast to rake back as specified to its design and proper mast angle for optimum sail performance.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
 
Jan 24, 2005
4,881
Oday 222 Dighton, Ma.
I recently made a system for raising mine. I used a variation of Oday's system and others I have seen here. I used plywood in place of the triangle plates. I did add a third bolt at the top so the cable ran in between them. I also made a 2x8 gin pole in place of the boom as it seemed there was a special fitting for the boom to mast connection. I used the main sheet and the jib halyard. For raising. It was easy. Two problems I had was main sheet was not long enough, but this was a blessing in disguise as I had to use a strap to extend it which didn't allow the mast to stand vertical. I handed the rest of the way which gave me control of the mast as it set in place. Second thing was the gin pole was higher then I could reach so had to make sure i connected the sheet, halyard,straps up before putting the gin pole on the mast.
I think that most ideas executed properly will work. There are a few other ways to get around installing and using the triangular plates that will work. One of them is your way with the plywood, my way with pivot bridles and two pad eyes installed on the deck, and yet an easier cheaper way that can be accomplished with a length of 3/16"X 15" braid line and a stainless steel ring.
This idea should work because I've used it for years on my lower stays, and it absolutely won't slip on any wire or rope. You need to know how to tie the "Rolling Hitch." Not the one that they show in books or on web sites, but the one I'm going to show you right now.
It's a simple hitch that anyone can tie and the thing to remember about this hitch is that you always make your wraps in the opposite direction to the pull.

1. First, tie the ring to the end of the braid line.

2. Hold the ring next to the lower stay anywhere on the stay, and make five wraps around the stay toward the chain plate.
3. Hold the wraps in place and bring the line up and in between the ring and the stay and back down.
4. Then tie two or more half hitches around the stay at the end of the wraps.
You can grab the hitch and slide it up or down and put it anywhere you like, but if you apply force on the ring, the hitch won't move.

Before I built my mast crutch last year to attach my baby stays, I used to just tie my baby stays to my lower stays within reaching distance. The direction of pull for the hitch was downward, so I had to make my wraps up the stay.

Here's a good test for this hitch:
Take any rope that can support your weight and tie a Bowline in the end of it and go down the cellar and wrap it around one of your lolly columbs or posts. Make your wraps up toward the ceiling and finish the hitch the way it is shown in the pictures.
Now step in the bowline and if you made this hitch right, this hitch won't slide down the post.
Give it a shot. You really have nothing to lose.
Joe
 

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geehaw

.
May 15, 2010
231
O-day 25 shoal keel Valdez
Thanks Joe! I will try that knot. But I have to say I have doubts it will hold on an 1/8" cable. Am I wrong in this assumption?
 
Jan 24, 2005
4,881
Oday 222 Dighton, Ma.
Thanks Joe! I will try that knot. But I have to say I have doubts it will hold on an 1/8" cable. Am I wrong in this assumption?
Dead wrong, geehaw. What I used to do is wrap some vinyl electric tape around my stays of about 4" and tie the hitch on the tape. I really didn't need the tape but it gave me a reference of where to tie the hitch on the stay within reaching distance each time. It may have protected the strands from getting pinched and eventually broken.

What you'll need to do is tie the hitch so that the rings will come even with the pivot point of the mast.
If you think about it. The purpose of plates or even the rings is to keep the boom, or in your case, the wooden Gin Pole from swinging side to side. In other words it just keeps it centered on the mast, but as soon as you pull your main sheet and put tension on it, the Gin Pole will stay centered anyway. Of course, your mast will get some lateral stability from the plates or rings, but if you want more stability, make up a wood mast crutch that you can attach to your mast, similar to mine and add two more ropes from it, to the rings. This will double the stability of the mast, provided that your boat is level when you're raising/lowering.

Two weeks ago I brought my boat to the club to splash it on the high tide. I couldn't have picked a worse day. The winds were out of the North at 15 with gusts up to 30 knots and that mast went up slicker than s*&T. I was all by myself and I was able to float my boat off the trailer after I tied it off to the dock with a lot of slack and gave my trailer the "MacGregor bump."
Since then, I spent one night on board and haven't been back in a week. It's been raining every day for a full week. Hopefully next week will be better. Most likely, we'll be into 80 degree summer which is OK with me because I like to take showers on board before I hit the sack.
Good Luck and smooth sailing!
Joe
 

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geehaw

.
May 15, 2010
231
O-day 25 shoal keel Valdez
Thanks Joe. It was pretty windy when I lowered it. With mine when you tighten the straps to hold the wood him pole it pulls the the shrouds tight at same time giving the the mast stability also. I have the mast all tied up ready for transport right now. Hope to go Monday to Valdez to go sailing for week. Might be all I can do this year. Greg
 
Jan 24, 2005
4,881
Oday 222 Dighton, Ma.
Thanks Joe. It was pretty windy when I lowered it. With mine when you tighten the straps to hold the wood him pole it pulls the the shrouds tight at same time giving the the mast stability also. I have the mast all tied up ready for transport right now. Hope to go Monday to Valdez to go sailing for week. Might be all I can do this year. Greg
That's great Greg! The important thing is that you're able to get the mast up or down without a problem. As you go along, you'll discover newer and different ways of doing it. I know I did through the years and I continue to keep on experimenting all the time. Have a great week out there you lucky son of a gun. :dance: I wish I could do that.:cry:
Joe
 
Sep 25, 2008
992
Oday 25 Gibraltar
Geehaw:
It appears that you have a pin in both the forward and aft position on the mast step hinge plate. As I understand it, this is not correct. Under sail, there should only be a pin in the aft position.[FONT=&quot]

The mast step hinge plate should not have a second pin in the forward slot position. The forward slot is for an optional temporary pin to keep mast from falling back when you remove forestay when lowering mast.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The mast is designed only for an aft pin placement to allow mast to rake back as specified to its design and proper mast angle for optimum sail performance.[/FONT]
That's news to me. Where did you get the quote?

Rich
 
Oct 2, 2008
1,424
Island Packet 31 Brunswick, Ga
kdssail said:
look at any "Backstay Triangle Plate" on a boat about the same sizeand it will be close enough in size. Seen the attached JPG's from an old artical I found on the mast raising syatem and 3 redraws of the pictures in the artical. I hope this helps. ps... I will post these on the Oday 25 information section as a PDF for everyone's usage.
That's a great post. I have not seen that before. I am going to contact Rudy this fall and see if he can halp me get this setup for my girl.
 
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